FINAL
REPORT TO THE CENTRAL INSTITUTE OF CLASSICAL TAMIL for mt Research Project
2012-2013 Ref: Sanction Order : F.No.11-264/CICT/2012-2013 /Research Project
-43 Titled Translation of Sangam Classics in other languages
Suggestion
1
In my quest I found among
other translations of Thirukural, the English Translation of Kaviyogi
Suddhananda Bharathiar to be the best. So far we all were considering that only
G.U.Pope’s translation is best. You may differ as everyone is entitled to in a
democracy, but I think that Central
Institute of Classical Tamil should bring out the English Translation of
Thirukural by Kaviyogi Suddhananda Bharathiar in book form and in e-book form
containing in CD’s. Also that book should be uploaded in an Online Open Access
Archives created by Central Institute of Classical Tamil and can be available
to download by anyone, anywhere in the scholarly world. The book titled :SAINT
VALLUVAR and HIS KURAL should be brought out by CICT to reach all parts of
India and English speaking world.
Kavi Yogi Maharishi , great
divine visionary and wise poet Dr. Shuddhananda Bharati when asked about his age answered: “My age is Courage!”
The
Yogi wrote several hundred works in English, French, Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and
Sanskrit; five thousand songs, and fifteen hundred poems in French. The magnum
opus of the man conscious of the presence of God in him, Bharata Shakti, (in
50,000 verses) described his ideal: only One Humanity living in communion with
only One God in a transformed world! Bharata Shakti is a monumental and unique
work. The Yogi depicts the essence of all the religions, of all the prophets
and saints, all the approaches of Yoga and all the cultures on an allegorical fabric.
It is a book for any age which all spiritual researchers and all nations should
read and meditate on.
Such a great scholar’s works
in all languages must be published by various Universities of India and
Institutes like Central Institute of Classical Tamil. I appeal through the
Central Institute of Classical Tamil to approach the Human Resources
Development Ministry of Government of India to accelerate the process of
bringing to light a greatest Tamil scholar, a Universal Man.
Since Kaviyogi Sudhananda
Bharathiar’s epic, the lengthiest epic in the world titled Bharata Shakti, (in
50,000 verses) described his ideal: only One Humanity living in communion with
only One God in a transformed world! Bharata Shakti is a monumental and unique
work. The Yogi depicts the essence of all the religions, of all the prophets
and saints, all the approaches of Yoga and all the cultures on an allegorical
fabric. It is a book for any age which all spiritual researchers and all
nations should read and meditate on.
I
in my suggestions to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil suggest that this
Bharatha Sakthi epic, if it is within the parameters of laid down objectives of
Central Institute of Classical Tamil, be brought out by CICT. or CICT can
recommend to other suitable institutes and to also request UNESCO to publish
this Universal Epic on the International Yoga day.
His other English works
include 1. The Gospel of Perfect Life 2.Lights on better Life 3.Experiences of
a Pilgrim Soul 4.Secrets of Yoga 5.Yoga for the Modern World 6. Voice of
Thayumanavar 7. Among Immortals 8. Alvar Saints 9. The Soul Sings 10. Yogi and
his words 11. Maxims of Moola Yoga 12. Divine Sparks 13. Sri Krishna and His
Gospel 14. Sankara the world Teacher 15. Saint Thiagaraja 16. Saint Ramalingam
17.Saint Appar and his Hymns 18.Bramma Sutras [ Science of the Self]
19.Revelations of Meikandar 20. This is our Religion etc
Suggestion
2
Since the Indian Prime Minister Narendra
Modi’s suggestion to name a International Yoga Day had been accepted by Unesco,
it would be appropriate that Saint Thirumoolar, the father figure of all Yoga
schools be honoured by publishing Thirumoolar’s Tamil book Thirumanthiram,
along with its explanations in Tamil brought out in last century by
Thiruvavaduthurai Atheenam, written by my Tamil teacher The.Aa.Srinivasachariar
of Cuddalore.
Suggestion
3
Apart
from Thirumoolar, Kavi Yogi Suddhananda
Bharathiar;s Song of Unity and Peace Anthem is fittest to be sung on the International
Yoga Day by UNESCO.
Song of Unity
Unite.
Unite, Unite, Oh Souls
Unite
and play your roles
Unite
in mind, unite in heart
Unite
in whole, unite in part
Like
words and tunes and sense in song
Let
East and West unite and live long
Trees
are many; the grove is one
Branches
are many: tree is one
Shores
are many; sea is one
Limbs
are many; body is one
Bodies
are many; self is one
Stars
are many; sky is one
Flowers
are many; honey is one
Pages
are many; book is one
Thoughts
are many; thinker is one
Tastes
are many; taster is one
Actors
are many; the drama is one
Nations
are many; the world is one
Religions
are many; Truth is one
The
wise are many; Wisdom is one
Beings
are many; breath is one
Classes
are many; college is one
Find
out this One behind the many
Then
life shall enjoy peaceful harmony
Peace Anthem
Peace
for all, peace for all
For
all the countries peace
Joy
for all, joy for all
For
all the nations joy
A rosy
morning peace
A
smiling summer joy (Peace for all)
All
for each and each for all
This
is the golden rule
Life
and Light and Love for all
For
all that live our love (Peace for all)
Work
and food and clothes for all
Equal
status for all
Health
and home and school for all
A
happy world for all (Peace for all)
No
idle rich, no more beggars
All
are equal workers
No
more tears, no more fears
The
heart is full of cheers (Peace for all)
No
atom scare, no fat mammon
No
room for war demon
Like
leaves in trees, like rays in the sun
We are
one communion,
One
Divine communion (Peace for all)
The
good in you is good for all
Your
life is life for all
The
God in you is God for all
Your
love is love for all (Peace for all)
For he
or she or it or rest
This
collective life is best
This
Universal Life is best
North
or South, or East or West (Peace for all)
Peace
for plants and birds and beasts
For
hills and streams and woods
Peace
in Home - land and air and sea
Dynamic
peace we see
Peace
for all, peace for all
Immortal
Peace for All
Kaviyogi
Suddhananda Bharathiar’s Song of Unity and Peace Anthem available not only in
English but French and Dutch, which are enclosed in the annexure are fittest
song to be sung before the United Nations General Assembly. Let on World Yoga
Day this song through Unesco is sung across countries and continents.
Suggestion
4
I have submitted to the
Central Institute of Classical Tamil digitized versions of Sangam Classics by
Gnanou Diagou, and the fore ward to the French translation by Sir C.P.Ramasamy
Iyer states : Mr.Gnanou Diagou’s
rendering of Thiruvalluvar’s Koural into French is important and significant to
international cultural collaboration”
I have
given the book both editions and also digitized versions along with my report.
The Central Institute of Classical Tamil must publish in book form as well as
e-book form in CD and upload in online open access archives to be created by
CICT. Not only Thirukkural, but Ganou
Diagou had translated Naladiyar, Nanmanikkadigai, Assarak Kovai,Tirikadugam,
all Sangam classics into French. CICT can bring out all e-books in one CD and
send to Universities which teaches French in France and all of French colonies
of yester years
Suggestion
5
“The Hindu” dated : 21st April
1995 under the title :Multi – linguist par excellence wrote : "Tamil and
Sanskrit are but two mediums that reflect the same image of pan-Indian culture’’. says scholar S.N.Srirama Desikan
The Sangam classics and
Subramania Bharathi’s works, Kamba Ramayanam and Thirukkural, Naaladiyar and
Thiruppavai, Silappadikaram and the poems of Avvaiyar, are among the literary
treasures that have been meticulously translated into Sanskrit by Srirama
Desikan in a labour of love, a monumental work of half a century. Many of the
volumes have an English exposition as well, lucid and apt, displaying yet
another linguistic dimension of this grand old man of translation. Srirama
Desikan’s tour de force, a pioneering work is the translation of the ancient
Ayurveda texts from Sanskrit into Tamil.
As Honorary Special Officer,
Ayurveda Translation Wing, Department of Indian Medicine and Homoeopathy,
Government of Tamil Nadu, Srirama Desikan has in the past 12 years worked to
bring out the Tamil translation of the Ahstanga Sangraham, the Charaka Samhita
(three volumes) and the Susrutha Samhita, comprising in all an awesome 25,000
slokas and totalling 5,397 pages. The magnificent compilation includes
description of procedures, chemical compositions of the herbs, sketches of
surgical tools and photographs of medicinal plants.s
for literature, the scholar has contributed to the sphere in a myriad ways.
While he was research officer in the Kendriya Sanskrit Vidya Peeta, Tirupati,
he wrote a 1000 page thesis a comparative study between Sanskrit and Tamil from
the Vedic times to the present and from the Sangam age to the modern, drawing
parallels and pointed out similarities between the two languages and
literatures.
The
scholar’s passion for elaborating on the common link between Sanskrit and Tamil
has resulted in a number of carefully researched articles in leading newspapers
and journals where he has expounded this theme.
“I even translated the Kamba Ramayanam into
Sanskrit. In fact, Rajaji, who released the book, wondered at the felicitation
function why one should translate a work which itself had been inspired by
Valmiki’s Sanskrit epic. I gave him a fitting reply about Vedanta Desikan who
rendered the Alwar Pasurams into Sanskrit – the Dramido Upanished Saram. Rajaji
laughed and while wrapping the shawl around me quipped in his inimitable styles
that like a mother-in-law serving food to the daughter-in-law even while
chiding her, he was honouring me.” Sriramadesikan also undertook a massive
comparative study between Kamban, Valmiki and Tulsi.
In
1983, the Chief Minister M.G.Ramachandran impressed with Srirama Desikan’s
translation of the ‘Thirullural’ gave him the assignment of making Ayurvedic
texts easily understood in Tamil Nadu.
Ashtanga Sangraham. Charaka
Samhita and Susruta Samhita, all Sanskrit books on Ayurveda; Tirukural;
Naladiar, Subramania Bharati’s works from Tamil to Sanskrit, Pathypattu (Sangam
Literature work) into Sanskrit, Ettuthogai (Sangam Literature), Silapathigaram,
Andra Kavi Vemans’s works into Tamil and Sanskrit…. The list is endless and the
subjects varied. Sriramadesikan passed away recently but his family can be
approached.
I
would appeal to the Central Institute of Classical Tamil to bring out the
Sanskrit Translation of Thirukkural, so that those who know Sanskrit will
understand the greatness of Saint Thiruvalluvar , a universal poet par
excellence. The Sanskrit Translation of Naladiyar too should be published and
the moral codes of Tamils be known to Sanskrit scholars.
Suggestion 5.
While
the world is moving towards digitizing books, my personal hunt for rare books
yielded mixed results. I could trace a book but could not Xerox or copy it
since it was damaged beyond redemption.
The Jesuit Mission of Madurai
maintains an archives in Shenbaganur near Kodaikanal of and there I found the Tamil-Latin Dictionary
of Veeramamunivar. Dictionarium Tamulico-Latinum by Beschi and Rottler was published in 1852 at
Nagapattinam. Only few pages, because of the worst condition of the manuscript
could be Xeroxed. It struck to me digitizing it and uploading in net as open
access material is the only way to preserve it . For better interaction between
the two classical languages Latin and Tamil and for present day Latin speakers
to understand Tamil, this dictionary is of immense value. Similarly Grammatica
Latino-Tamulica by Veeramamunivar known as Constantius Josephus
Beschius printed by Saint Josephs Industrial School Press , Trichinopoly in
1917 is another rare book which would help Tamils to know Latin grammar was
found in Shenbaganur Archives.
The second Edition of
Dictionnaire Tamoul-Francaise by MM.Mousset and L.Dupuy published by
Pondicherry Mission Press in 1895 [second edition] is preserved in Shenbaganur.
This would enable Frenchmen to understand Tamil, whereas the same authors had
brought out Dictionnaire Francais_Tamoul in the year 1911 from the same press.
This would be of help to Tamils to learn the French language. It is available
in reprints but has no takers is another story.
Having visited various
archives in connection with my project titled Translations of Sangam Classics
in Classical, Foreign and Other Languages for Central Institute of Classical
Tamil, I could find rare books but could not copy them or Xerox them . My
attempts to take photographs of some books will reveal the futile struggle
which all scholars cannot afford to do.
Like
U.Ve.Swaminatha Iyer another scholar or his reincarnation cannot be expected to
come alive by the fag end of this century to start campaign to save rare books
which appeared in Tamil and printing technology was introduced to Tamils by
westerners.
It struck to me that in collaboration with
Anna University, a Tamil NRI based in California Kumbakonam B.Chandrasekar who
funded the India’s first research centre in public-private partnership
succeeded in inventing first Tamil search engine like Google or yahoo and named
it Kazhugu.. AU-KBC research centre had also launched Online Tamil
Dictionary “Agaraathi” and this prompted me to suggest a tie-up of Central Institute
of Classical Tamil and Anna University-KBC Research centre for digitizing all
rare Tamil books and creation on Online Open Access Archives.
During the International
Seminar and Conference on Information Technology in February 1999 a decision to
start Tamil Virtual University was announced. Tamil Virtual University renamed
as Tamil Virtual Academy has a website visited by 2,34,4272 visitors. A birds
eye view of the site will reveal lot more had to be done. In Dictionaries they
have uploaded Pals Dictionary English-Tamil , Tamil-Tamil Dictionary by
M.Shanmugam Pillai, and Madras University Tamil Lexicon Volume 1 to 7. Tamil
Virtual Academy has an Electronic Dictionary with spelling. The Tamil-Latin Dictionary or Tamil –French
Dictionary and grammars referred just as sample, had to be digitized and
uploaded.
Another ambitious project of
Government of Tamilnadu was the Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project which
started in 1974 and ended in 2011, with 12 Volumes in 31 parts running into
12,000 pages being printed and distributed to the libraries of Tamilnadu. A
Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of Tamil Language which was initiated by
Deveneya Paavanar and finished when R.Mathivanan was the Director in 2011,
needs to be digitized and uploaded as Online Free Accessible Archives material.
But the Former Director of the Tamil Etymological Dictionary Project
R.Mathivanan opined these dictionaries had to be updated and additional inputs
incorporated. Printed copies have been exhausted and reprints are required, he
said.
The
Tamil Virtual Academy had published for online accessibility the Tamil
Encyclopaedias , a monumental work initiated by Education Minister of Madras
Presidency Avinasilingam Chettiar [right ] and edited by Perisamy Thooran
[left] in picture. 10 volumes are for public accessibility. Similarly
Children’s Encyclopaedia too is there in just a click away in Tamil Virtual
Library.
The
University Library, a replica of the Indian Parliament House in its structure
is located prominently in the campus of the University. As an ever-growing unit
for knowledge and information, the library concentrates not only in purchasing
new books but also to collect and preserve old and rare books for its shelves.
As on date, the total number of books is 1,36,324 and the total number of
periodicals is 393. A few rare personal collections of great scholars however
procured. Mention may be made of an old collection procured from the first
mobile library started in 1931 at Mannargudi. India Office Library Records (1600-1900)
are available in Microfilm. Scholars of repute, researchers and students
frequently visit the library for reference. Moreover, a current awareness
service, selective dissemination of Information and reprographic service are
offered to them. Apart from the availability of Photostat machine, materials
such as linguaphone records, audio cassettes, video cassettes and CD's are
available for reference in the Library.
It is high time Tamil Virtual
University gets back its old name and strengthened by making it topmost Digital
Archives of Tamil books. Tamil
University Thanjavur, International Institute of Tamil Studies both under State
Government and Central Institute of Classical Tamil under Human Resource
Development Ministry of Government of India must be made epicentres to trigger
knowledge explosion by enriching their libraries converting them into Open
Access online libraries to benefit Tamils and other language scholars spread
across the continents. Pondicherry Central University and its Anandaranga
Pillai Memorial Library, Romain Rolland Library 187 year old heritage left by
French should become online libraries.
Private initiatives by Tamil
Electronic Library of Malaysia, Project Madurai, Tamil Heritage Foundation etc
are laudable but it struck to me that every house can digitize its collections.
Former Principal of Teachers College Pollachi Nasan, through his website
thamizham.net had added 10814 books
and 34402 journals totalling 45216 collections in Tamil. A Bachelor has
everything arranged in his two room house at Pollachi and digitizes at the rate
of 1000 pages per hour.
Pollachi Nasan.
How he could do this ? to my
surprised query he told Japanese technology helped him.
The Easy Book Scanner - an Introduction to this
1000 pages per hour
To build the above scanner
With technology coming to help every household in
Tamilnadu which houses rare books of past generations, could buy such easy
scanners and keep all their home library books as e-books and prevent loss or
destruction of books due to vagaries of time.
I read in news papers that
Central Institute of Classical Tamil had called for cooperation of various
Tamilnadu Universities for this purpose. It is a laudable move, which would go
a long way in preservation of all Rare Books in Tamil and books related to
Tamil Culture in other languages
On this day 9.12.2014 I am
submitting to the Panel of the Central Institute of Classical Tamil two CDs
containing E-Books of Subramania Bharathiars Poems in French, Kavidamandalam,
Journals, Aringnar Anna’s article People’s Poet about Bharathiar and my article
Greatest Bard Bharathiar which dwells on Bharathiar’s English writings.
Another CD contains Thirukural
French Translation by Gnanou Diagou, Mauritius Muthukumaran Sangili’s French
Translation of Thirukural., Naladiyar, Asarakovai Nanmanikadikai, Thirikadukam
etc all packed in one CD.
If the project is given to me,
more such e-books in CD’s will be submitted to the Central Institute of
Classical Tamil which can publish under its own banner.
SUGGESTION
6
IF THE PANEL APPROVES CICT CAN ORGANIZE A
FUNCTION AND RELEASE BHARATHYAR’S FRENCH TRANSLATION CD SINCE BHARATHY
ANNIVERSARY IS NEAR.
TWO
DIFFERENT FRENCH TRANSLATIONS ONE FROM PONDICHERRY ANOTHER FROM MAURITIUS ON
THIRUKURAL and FEW SANGAM CLASSICS TOO CAN BE RELEASED
Though I have submitted 3 volumes before extended deadline
of March 2014 since During the panel
meeting on 9th December 2014 it was suggested that I hand over one
more copy of all my earlier 4 Reports, I
have uploaded those Reports as pdf files in a CD and I am submitting in person
to CICT.
Please note that I
have applied for another project for 2013-2014 period.
Under
the research field of Publications History and Research of Classical Tamil
Literature and Grammar from the days of Palm leaf texts to print texts , which
is one of the fields identified by Central Institute of Classical Tamil , for
the year 2014-2015 Short Term Projects, Title proposed by Thamizhmaamani
Awardee of Pondicherry Government [2009] N.Nandhivarman is as follows :
Digitizing all editions of Sangam Tamil Classics and handing over to
CICT with Research History in English and Tamil.
N.Nandhivarman
104
A, Annamalai Nagar, Saram,
Pondicherry
605013
Cell:
9244445508
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